Ensuring Free, Fair and Credible Elections in Local Governments in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper analyses the conduct of elections into local government councils in Nigeria. The paper argues that credible elections into local government councils have been non-existent from independence in 1960 till date. This is because the local councils are often subjected to controls by the upper levels of government in the federal system of government. During the First Republic, the Native Authorities (as local governments were then called) were under the control of the regional governments. The Constitution of the Second Republic (1979-1983) gave state governors the power to dissolve local councils and appoint Caretaker Committees to run the affairs of local councils. The 1999 Constitution currently being operated empowers state governors to appoint chairpersons of State Independent Electoral Commissions, the electoral umpires mandated to conduct local government elections in the 36 states of the federation. As the situation stands, there is some ambiguity as to whether the state governors can dissolve local councils before elections are conducted at the expiration of their tenure, but often, state governors capitalise on this ambiguity to dissolve local councils at the end of their tenure, and appoint Caretaker Committees. Often,  these Committees are staffed with cronies and party sympathisers.  The paper argues that this situation makes the possibility of conducting free and fair elections into local councils very remote. The arguments in the paper are further strengthened by analysis of questionnaires distributed during field work and focus group discussions with stake holders drawn from civil society organizations, members of the clergy and the academia. The paper concludes that to in order to ensure credible elections into local councils, the power to appoint chairpersons and commissioners of the State electoral bodies should be removed from the governors. Furthermore, there should be constitutional amendments to free local councils from the clutches of the state governors. The conclusions are based on the findings of field work conducted on local government elections in Kaduna state in Northern Nigeria, but to varying degrees, it represents a larger picture of local government elections in the country, because all the state electoral bodies and the local councils throughout the thirty six states of the Nigerian federation are under the control of the state governors.

Key Words: Local Governance, Democracy, Transparency Accountability Elections,